(Animation)Mike's Animations for game*Updated AGAIN!*

[Conzeit]

I dont know if this is worth anything but here's a stab at the anim...hope u get some ideas out of it atleast 

I obviously dont mean to suggest that you use random lines as fire...it's supposed to be kind of a blueprint...animatic thingy heheh.

[TrevoriuS]

I miss 3 things in this animation.

1. A reason. He could just use the fire ball as a bowling ball or pass it on via the front... why do this motion?
2. Anticipation. There's no tendency or focus in his muscles. Make him tighten before he does anything. Exaggerate these things. Realism has them as well, they're less apparant, but I entirely miss them here.
3. Reaction. How can the ball stop like that? The ball falls on his hand so shouldn't de hand feel a little force from the ball as well? I know it's magical fire but so what It's energy. It's substantial.

[Mike]

I'm not sure what you mean by the anticipation, your description is a bit vague.  The part where you mention to "exaggerate these things" what are these things?
As for the reason, it has no reason really, I thought it would be cool for him to roll the ball on his shoulders before he did his main action.  I'll probably have to cut it anyway and go with my original plan of him whipping his arm out and having the fireball spin out from his hand.

[Kazuya Mochu]

well antecipation is basicaly a visual hint of what is going to follow.
if you want your character to jump, you dont just want him to be a few pixels higher on the second frame. cause that will make it look like he's eigther being pulled or floating.
when you jump, you usually bend your legs a bit for impulse. thats antecipation.
on another example if you are going to scream, first you fill your lungs with air. otherwise it will just look like the character started yawning or even just being surprised.
another usual one would be a car bourning out before shooting off at great speed. to enhance this effect, most animations (depending on the visual style) have the front of the car go down and the rear go up as to indicate where the traction is.

anticipation deals with what happens previous to the movement you wanna portrai. usually by having a pose or a visible intention of going a certain direction or doing a certain movement. this concept can be applied to both indivial elements (such as arms or legs) or to the whole element it self (such as a body or a car)

What TrevoriouS means with "There's no tendency or focus in his muscles" is that visually there is no indication of what movement is going to perform or even what direction is he going to move.

hope that helps

Kaz

[Mike]

I tried to make a little movement that goes the opposite way he moves but I guess that wasn't really a big anticipation at all.  It's kinda hard to anticipate something like this because of the movement of the ball, and trying to keep it short.  Does anyone know where I can find a reference for this animation?  I haven't worked on it in a few days because I'm completely stumped and I'm afraid of working on it before I'm sure of what I need to do.

Apparently this stuff is called contact juggling

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb-MZfrGyTE&feature=related

[Conzeit]

I looked at some of that contact juggling stuff and it's fucking amazing! though, it doesnt seem to be exactly the same thing as that basketball vid.
The basketball guy just tips the balance making his arms and his neck sort of a ramp, so the ball will roll trough the arms all by itself
Contact juggling is more like the guys moving the opposite direction that the ball's spinning, so it sort of appears as if the ball is magically hanging in the air.

Both could look really cool but contact juggling could go a lot faster, as you can see in the video you linked yourself.

Sometimes after you've looked at a lot of reference you just gotta think back to the moment you decided to make the animation, and use whatever part of reality your guts tell you fits your goal best, the answer ultimately isnt out there because you're the one in charge of the piece and YOU know what you want people to feel when they watch this.

if you decide to go with contact juggling...dont make the guy GRAB the ball! look at this vid http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=are786WId4U&feature=related it's a no-no!

....I think using contact juggling as the basis for a fire char would be kickass =D